If you had to pick one pitcher that is the most similar to you who would it be? Not your favorite pitcher but the one you think you are most like.
I would have to say Jose Contreras the Phillies reliever for me. similar pitching arsenal, similar movement, always pitch from the windup, and mechanics are pretty close. No, I don’t throw mid-high 90s though!
What about you other pitchers/former pitchers!
That’s an interesting question—and I’m not sure I can answer it.
In my playing days, many moons ago, I was a finesse pitcher, pure and simple—a snake-jazzer, not much on speed but with a good arsenal of assorted breaking stuff, and the control and command to go with it. There were a lot of pitchers in the major leagues who fit that description, so all I can say is that I was a member of that particular club. 
One thing—I did have a pitching coach who was one of the best of that particular stamp: Ed Lopat, a key member of the Yankees’ pitching rotation of the late 40s to the mid-50s and one of the finest pitching coaches one could ever hope to work with. He saw where I was coming from, and he took me in hand, worked with me and showed me how to take full advantage of the type of pitcher I was and what I could do with the stuff I had. 8)
Hey Zita,
Bob Feller said he was the only one on the Cleveland roster that could hit Ed Lopat. He siad he could do it with his eyes closed. Nobody else could touch him. 
R.A. Dickey, I would say Wakefield but I throw my fastball more than Wakefield does, I don’t throw as hard as Dickey but I definitely use my fastball about as much as he does or more even.
Pedro Martinez in his prime!
i would say . im more similar to cliff lee. i have amazing control like him. no over powering fastball.
Dino—
Yeah…sure. Feller couldn’t hit him with his eyes open. You know how pitchers used to love to talk about their hitting. If anything, it was the other way around; Lopat was one of the better hitting pitchers in the American League. When he would come to bat, he looked as if he didn’t even know how to hold a bat, but when there were runners on base the opposing outfielders used to play him straight away and deep and hope and pray that he would take pity on them and not hit one over their heads—which he did anyway.
Ted Williams, in fact, got one homer off Lopat in his entire career—just to prove to himself that he could do it. It was in 1949, late in the season. The rest of the time Lopat would strike him out. The good hitting pitchers on the Indians ballclub were Bob Lemon and Early Wynn, by the way. 8)
i like to think of myself as a pitch like matt cain. hes an old school pitcher in this new school era that just goes out there and pitches his heart out. he has probably had the worst luck of any pitcher (bullpen losses and low runsupport in past years) and still goes out there with out complaining one bit. He respects the game but has that bulldog mentality to compete to the end. ill be happy to be half the man he is.
A pitcher currently playing that resembles the way I pitched is Jamie Moyer. I too am left-handed and didn’t throw heat so I had to rely on location and changing speeds.
A player that I wanted to be like growing up was Mark Langston. I just couldn’t throw as hard as him.
Good times!
Welcome to the club, “hitting tips”! When I realized that I would never be an overpowering pitcher like Feller, Raschi, Gibson, Verlander or Sabathia, I knew I would have to go in the other direction, and so I did. I became a snake-jazz pitcher, and a very good one. I was one of those infuriating, exasperating sidearmers who used the crossfire practically all the time, and I built up a very good arsenal around two pitches—a slider which I nicknamed “Filthy McNasty” after a character in an old W.C. Fields movie because that was exactly what it was—it had a sharp late break to it—and a very good knuckle-curve. I too relied on location (what we call “control”) and mixing up my pitches.
Ed Lopat once told me, “Move the ball around—high, low, inside, outside, and change speeds. Stay away from the middle of the plate.” Sound advice for any pitcher. 8) :baseballpitcher:
[quote=“Zita Carno”]Welcome to the club, “hitting tips”! When I realized that I would never be an overpowering pitcher like Feller, Raschi, Gibson, Verlander or Sabathia, I knew I would have to go in the other direction, and so I did. I became a snake-jazz pitcher, and a very good one. I was one of those infuriating, exasperating sidearmers who used the crossfire practically all the time, and I built up a very good arsenal around two pitches—a slider which I nicknamed “Filthy McNasty” after a character in an old W.C. Fields movie because that was exactly what it was—it had a sharp late break to it—and a very good knuckle-curve. I too relied on location (what we call “control”) and mixing up my pitches.
Ed Lopat once told me, “Move the ball around—high, low, inside, outside, and change speeds. Stay away from the middle of the plate.” Sound advice for any pitcher. 8) :baseballpitcher:[/quote]
Nice! Great description. I focused on playing first base in high school and college but from when I started baseball as a kid until my 2nd year of high school I also pitched. I made the all-star team every year for a few simple reasons. Not just playing well at first base and hitting good. I was that left handed pitcher who threw slow, off speed pitches but also threw strikes. After the flamethrowers pitched they put me in and it threw the other teams off balance. Why didn’t I stick to pitching? I don’t really know. I just loved hitting and first base better I guess.
Btw, if you were a left handed sidearmer throwing to me a left handed hitter … that would have been tough.
No, I was a righthander—not that it made any difference to the hitters; they couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield against me. So I racked up quite a lot of strikeouts—and quite a lot of ground balls—and it was so much fun listening to those hitters as they returned to their dugout muttering all kinds of imprecations, invectives and just plain cusswords, none of which can be printed here because it would blow up my computer.
Lopat—and what an incredible pitching coach he was!—told me how he would deal with guys like Walt Dropo who thought he was a power hitter. Steady Eddie would take even more off his stuff, and as Dropo would return to the dugout in disgust Lopat would yell at him, "Dropo, you’re just a lousy hitter!"Isn’t being a snake-jazz pitcher lots of fun?—not to mention that we last longer in games because there’s so much less stress and strain on the arm, the shoulder, whatever we throw the ball with! 8) :baseballpitcher: